SHAH ALAM - Activist from the Secretariat for Palestinian Solidarity (SSP), M Mythreyar, ended his hunger strike after 200 hours to protest the sale of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) shares to a company owned by BlackRock, which is linked to Israel.
Mythreyar, 46, concluded his hunger strike, which began on July 10, at 4.30pm on Thursday.
SSP spokesman Tian Chua said Mythreyar agreed to end the strike at the 200th hour, considering his current health condition.
"However, this does not mean the campaign stops here. The struggle will continue on different platforms," he said in a Facebook post.
On July 5, the media reported that Mythreyar announced his plan to launch a hunger strike to protest the sale of MAHB shares to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock.
The strike was held at Dataran Merdeka, located just two kilometres from the Parliament building, where he endured the heat during the day, slept on a thin mattress, and was surrounded by various posters protesting the plan to sell MAHB to GIP.
Through the sale, GIP was reported to acquire a 30 per cent stake in a consortium managing MAHB, along with Khazanah Nasional and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), entities under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry.
The move sparked protests from opposition leaders and pro-Palestinian groups demanding the government cancel the agreement, given that GIP's owner, BlackRock, faced accusations of complicity in Israel's genocide campaign in Gaza.
Tian Chua said SSP appealed to Mythreyar to end his hunger strike due to concerns over his deteriorating health.
"SSP expresses our respect and appreciation for all the hardships and challenges faced by Mythreyar. Although we admire the courage and perseverance shown, we are concerned about his declining health," he said.
Tian Chua emphasised that the objective of the hunger strike was to urge the government to remain consistent with the struggle for solidarity with Palestine.
He added that the act also aligned with the general public's call against the government's plan to privatise Malaysia's airports to be taken over by GIP or BlackRock.